Vicki Lawrence and Mama coming to Foxwoods May 2

Wednesday

Mama is on her way to Foxwoods, and people better listen up because she’s always got something to say.

Vicki Lawrence and her famed character "Mama" will take the stage twice May 2 at Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Mama is on her way to Foxwoods, and people better listen up because she’s always got something to say.
Vicki Lawrence and her famed character “Mama” will take the stage twice May 2 at Fox Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

“It’s been great fun to take Mama out on the road, and see my fans, and make them laugh,” Lawrence said. “The show is half me, half Mama. I actually open for her.”

The comedienne who starred on “The Carol Burnett Show” (1967-78) will take the stage first, reflecting on her life in a “largely autobiographical” way with her typical insightful humor.

“My life is nothing if not a lot of fun,” Lawrence said. “By the end of my half, people will know more about me than they ever wanted to know. Then Mama comes out.”

Yes, THE Mama.

“She’s got more to worry about (these days),” Lawrence said. “She’s a little concerned about politics, and all these men cheating on their wives, and auto toilets that flush three times before you pull your pants up.”

Lawrence’s character of Mama is from the 1983-90 TV show “Mama’s Family,” a spin off from a “Carol Burnett” sketch. “Mama’s Family” won a Primetime Emmy and earned several other nominations. According to Lawrence, the Mama character is not her creation. The rights of the character belong to the last surviving writer of “The Carol Burnett Show.”

The character, she said, came from two writers who had dysfunctional families of their own, and they originally wrote Mama for Burnett. But Burnett chose to play Eunice Higgins, a character who appeared in several episodes, and wanted Lawrence for the part of Mama.

“They were very upset when Carol wanted to play Eunice, doubly upset when she wanted me to do Mama,” Lawrence said.

But in the end, Lawrence made Mama who she is still today — a cranky, meddling, irritating (and irritable) old spinster of a dysfunctional family.

“I think everyone has a Mama in their family,” Lawrence said. “A crazy relative that says the most ridiculous things at the dinner table. I think we all know her, and that’s why everybody loves her so much.”